Trump hoodwinked by MBS in White House meeting

President Trump was hoodwinked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) during their meeting in the White House on 18 November.

An insider reportingon their meeting claims:

Trump and MBS were civil but the conversation was tough, one source with knowledge of the meeting and a U.S. official said.

• "The best way to say it is disappointment and irritation. The president really wants them to join the Abraham Accord. He tried very hard to talk him. It was an honest discussion. But MBS is a strong man. He stood his ground," the source said.
• MBS demanded that in return for a peace deal with Saudi Arabia, Israel should agree to "an irreversible, credible and time-bound path" for a Palestinian state. MBS also made that clear publicly, after the meeting.
• Israel's government opposes any path for a Palestinian state.
• "MBS never said no to normalization. The door is open for doing it later. But the two-state solution is an issue," a U.S. official said."

MBS was toying with Trump.

MBS had probably abandoned any hope of a two-state solution eventuating as far back as 2 March 2020 - when one of his advisors Ali Shihabi published an article on Shihabi's private blog headlined The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine.

Shihabi's article asserted:

The recently announced Bantustan-like 'deal of the century' [Trump 2020 peace plan – Ed] and the basically insurmountable power imbalance between the Arabs and Israelis, let alone between the Palestinians and Israelis, argues for a radical rethinking of the approach to solving the Palestine problem.

Shihabi's radical rethinking called for themerger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank – to be governed by Jordan's ruling Hashemite regime - and to be called "The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine" (HKOPS).

Shihabi still remains an advisor to MBS until today – even though Shihabi's 2020 proposal trashed Saudi Government foreign policy then in existence since 2002 and adopted as the Arab Peace Initiative (2002) when proposed by Saudi Arabia's then Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz – calling for recognition of Israel and normalizing relations with Israel in exchange for an independent Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

MBS had certainly abandoned any two-state solution - the creation of a Palestinian state between Jordan and Israel - after a revised version of Shihabi's 2020 article was published in the Saudi Government-controlled Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 - calling for the same solution proposed by Shihabi in 2020. Publication would have required MBS consent - as Shihabi was publically challenging Saudi Foreign policy in a Government-owned media outlet.

Shihabi's 2022 article still appears on Al Arabiya's website – when MBS could have had it removed. Shihabi remains uncharged for criticizing the Saudi Government.

Implementing HKOPS could have prevented Gaza's horrific invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023 and the devastation and loss of life that followed in Israel, Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran during the ensuing Israel-Gaza War.

Presently - implementing HKOPS must exclude Gaza - which is now being treated as a separate territorial entity by the international community following the adoption of Security Council resolution 2803 . That should not delay direct negotiations between Israel and Jordan to begin implementing HKOPS to merge Jordan and part of the West Bank.

Jordan's King Abdullah phoned MBS this week to review regional developments and ways to enhance joint efforts to achieve security and stability. Implementing HKOPS before violence in the West Bank spirals out of control should have topped their agenda.

MBS had given up on any two-state solution by 2022 - but he never told Trump during their White House meeting. Trump should be seething.